Pete Hegseth going over to his emergency appropriations request and adding another zero to the back end.
We get to pay for that. Thanks, Daddy Donald. Such a brilliant strategic planner.
We get to pay for that.
Can we even build these planes anymore? The C-17 was produced by McDonald Douglas, a company that went bankrupt back in '97 and had to be acquired by Boeing. Now Boeing is way behind on orders, because they’ve outsourced themselves to the hilt in the same way that ruined Douglas.
This isn’t just an issue of the fiscal costs. The US literally cannot produce airliners reliably anymore. Boeing is increasingly just booking orders it cannot fulfill. Even if Hegseth gets a blank check from the Treasury, this equipment isn’t going to be replaced any time soon.
Americans die for zionists
Americans have wanted to invade Iran going back to the Reagan administration. Trump’s just so zooted up on his own supply that he thought he could make it happen.
That’s okay, though. We’re going to invade Cuba next. We can stop blaming Zionists and point the finger squarely at Florida Billionaires going forward.
uh, is there a place we can check the names of the dead? I know a few KC10 pilots
There’s a waiting period after the loved ones have been notified before they release the names
Maybe I’m missing something but doesn’t the article states the planes were in the ground and nobody was injured?
one of them crashed into the ground after two crashed midair, it mentioned a flight crew of 6 dead.
I want to know if i need to throw some ribs on. One of my oldest friends married a KC10 pilot. We ran cross country on rival teams in high school. Our parents always wanted us to date. Well, okay until my parents met my wife like a year before we started dating. And did not tell me jesus mom and dad help a dude out. Her mom played piano for one of my choirs.
The midair collision was KC135s.
I know more personal details about you than I do some people I’ve known for over a decade. Hope your friend is alive.
thanks. I have been having a bit of a
dayweekit’s probably better not to count but like, i’m not actively fighting in a war.
I remember the days when you could just check someone’s facebook to see if they were dead or not
This was last week though. KSA airbase also included an expensive/irreplaceable AWACS destruction.
It isn’t about the size of the dog, it is the fight in it. The Iranian chihuahua has a death grip on the neck of the American doberman.
That chihuahua is calling the shots and he knows ballistics.
I wouldn’t exactly call a country of 90 million a chihuahua.
maybe a terrier versus an bald eagle and hornet.
It’s Eagle vs. Cat.
hornets vs bald eagle is good. Eagle may eat a few more of them than they eat him, but it’s gonna leave soon enough.
I am not asking for much, I just want to see the US defeated in West Asia and elsewhere around the world.
The US doesn’t make war to win or lose. It makes war in order to fund the weapons’ industry’s oligarchs with unlimited public money
And petrol
While that is absolutely the case, the problem they have here is that they don’t control escalatory dominance. Typically, the US can dial things up or down as convenient, and if things get too spicy they can leave without any consequence. But here, Iran controls a choke point of the global economy, and leaving would have disastrous geopolitical consequences for the US. If they’re forced to abandon all their vassals in the Gulf, then their image as a world power collapses overnight. How can Europe, occupied Korea, or Japan credibly think that the US will defend them at that point?
How can Europe, occupied Korea, or Japan credibly think that the US will defend them at that point?
It’s disturbing if they currently think US will defend them, when all defenses are moved to Israel today, and Trump shifts from “not our problem, we should leave” and “permanent global economy destruction”, and delaying “permanent global destruction” while Israel pursues it anyway. Furthermore, pursuing the Israel genocide expansion plan makes US angry at low enthusiasm level of its colonies to join, and promises “bad future” for its allies.
If they’re forced to abandon all their vassals in the Gulf, then their image as a world power collapses overnight.
That is most likely outcome. Of the $200B funding request bill, as much as $50B is expected as earmark to allies reparations other than Israel. Unclear that congress will go along with any funds for them.
Right, I really can’t see how the US can win this war or even exit it with any sort of dignity. It’s a massive geopolitical humiliation.
If they’re forced to abandon all their vassals in the Gulf, then their image as a world power collapses overnight.
As opposed to staying and their image being more like the loooooong, slow decomposition of an embalmed corpse? Like it’s still going to happen, it’s just taking too 🤬 long?
There are no good choices left for the empire here.
Painful as it may be for underdeveloped egos, GTFO NOW and start making reparations seems the best option, but I’m an internet rando, so there’s that
I don’t think a path for deescalation exists anymore. JD Vance could maybe have taken the reigns by referring to Trump’s ill health, promised to send more competent negotiators who could meet Iran in good faith, and essentially dropped Israel to save America (or at least give it a few more good years).
But that’s a very tall order, and he just went out to claim Iran is designing nuclear suicide vests, so I guess he watched Wag the Dog and took some inspiration.
Why do you think that?
realistically that is the best option left, but the humiliation would be too much too swallow
Well, even the best developed egos don’t often like humble pie. And I don’t think Trump’s handlers really care much about results, as long as they’re making money. I imagine they imagine money makes humble pie taste really good, until they’re the pie filling.
Shame. /s.
Its been a while since I could enjoy reading news
At least you can still read. Most can’t these days.
But hey at least you never get bored now, don’t you?
They also hit a radar and two blackhawks with drones. And the best part part is, the radar taken out was a short range radar that was supposed to be used to track drones.
Gooooood
And you can see the bases are now completely abandoned too with the drones flying through them uncontested.
With a fleet of around 14,500 aircraft and substantial ongoing investment, five grounded aircraft doesn’t seem particularly noteworthy.
Curious why this is being highlighted as major news.
Drinking too much Orange Kool-Aid. Where in the hell did you read the USA has 14,500 military aircraft? Fuck me, that’s more than Soviet Union had at the height of their power. The damaged tankers reveals the US military is running low on anti-missile and drone weapons. The Ukrainian advisors were shocked to see US Patriot Battery crews launching 8 missiles at one fucking Iranian drone!
because the users here are desperate to feel like Iran is some genius amazing military force and the USA is incompetent and pathetic.
hence the lie in the headline and the commentary further exaggerating what actually happened. it’s pure delusion, but you are on lemmy.ml which is full of pro-authoritarian, anti-democractic folk.
In US wars, the general US promise is only a few dead grunts. Not damage to allies infrastructure or equipment losses, while they lie about death toll. Not risking destruction of most valuable property in the world and global economy from enemy deterrent capability.
I’m seeing tankis and wankies fighting each other. And I love it.
Tell em’ how much you’re “winning”, your health insurance isn’t going to pay itself.
It will be really funny years from now after the full extent of the damage is widely acknowledged, I wonder what you will be saying then. Material reality doesn’t care about your chauvinism.
Yeah, and tomorrow the entire usa will just spontaneously combust. Yourself included.
I’m not in or from the US, I’m from one of the many Latin American countries where we had a US backed dictatorship disappearing random people, including my grandpa’s friends, so fuck you
“Repairing” major aircraft isn’t like fixing a dent on a sedan. A single nick in a critical zone triggers full disassembly, part-by-part inspection, and replacement. Five KC-135s took direct hits from explosives. That they aren’t “dust” is irrelevant. Structural integrity is compromised. Return to service means months or more of labor, scarce parts, and diverted maintenance capacity as they are fully dismantled, inspected and then possibly repaired.
Then there’s the cost exchange. Iranian ballistic missiles run roughly $1-2 million to produce. A KC-135 is ~$80 million adjusted for inflation. Five tankers is ~$400 million in assets, not counting wasted crew training during operational downtime and the repair costs. When one side trades cheap, mass-produced munitions for high-value, hard-to-replace platforms, that’s clearly valuable.
And let’s be real about US “competence.” They lost a $1.1 billion radar to a Shahed drone. A Black Hawk and an advanced anti-drone radar taken out by FPV strikes. The Strait closed while they scrambled. An F-35 forced back for repairs after taking a hit from an old IR-tube missile. This campaign has been a comedy of errors.
Iran isn’t full of military geniuses. But they’re showing clear competency: splitting command into cells to blunt decapitation strikes, prioritizing radar and C4ISR first, then shifting to high-value enablers like tankers. They understand the material conditions. The US is learning, expensively once again, that overwhelming cost and complexity is a vulnerability.
Also authoritarian is meaningless pejorative.
In addition, MAGA replaced the best high-ranking US military officers with their “yes” people. Guess who else did that after the 1939 Polish Campaign, which led to repeated strategic failures across the board, and that is why the Allies did not make an attempt to remove him. I’m still trying to grasp how a crucial aircraft carrier can be removed from a combat theater based on a laundry room fire!?!?
and your ‘argument’ is is meaningless grandstanding for Iran, totally ignoring the 100s of assets and their value that were destroyed. Iran effectively has no air force or navy anymore.
Huh, that must be why they’ve stopped hitting targets from the air
So? Those are assets the Iranians knew they would loose early in the war with the Satanic Forces. They are fighting with drones and missiles just as they have always planned to do.
So get fucked America. You can sink a battleship but you can’t do shit to drone swarms, therefore you can’t fight modern wars. They can’t even learn and adapt to this because the US military is so captured by the corporate pedoship. It’s glorious to see them finally eatting shit with all those trillions and trillions of worthless broken eshitified tech.
Meanwhile all the other potential victims of American aggression are taking notes.
Iran effectively has no air force or navy anymore.
Yet complete control of Gulf anyway. Complete control of global economy permission anyway. Much more relevant than your point.
Ah the “assets and value” of 153 schoolchildren. Wow much strategy, waste weapons you can’t resupply on civilians.
Ukraine doesn’t effectively have an air force or navy. And look how well that’s working out for Russia. They don’t need a massive navy. Iran doesn’t need to steam across the ocean and lay siege to Washington D.C. in order to win this war. They just need to outlast the US and Israel. It’s telling that, despite Iran lacking a navy, the US is keeping its own navy clear of the Straight of Hormuz. Instead the actual ships are being kept far away from the Iranian coast, and targets are being bombed via long range aircraft and stand off munitions. That’s tellingly the exact same tactic Russia has been forced to use over Ukraine.
Iran was running soviet hand me downs and equivalents, their air force and navy were never core to their military strategy. Drones, missiles etc are the core and it’s clearly working.
The fact is that the US spends nearly a trillion a year on its military (more than the next 10 countries combined) and built it’s image on being “THE” military superpower yet they are having their toys destroyed in massive cost loss conversions.
Why do you feel the need to lick US boots beyond being deeply chauvinist internally. The US clearly has no real goal in this war, it’s shifted from nebulous “regime change” (which worked out so well every other time) to opening the straight that was already open before this idiotic war.
Why is it so hard for you to admit that this is an idiotic war, a comedy of errors pushed forward by an inflated military budget and a false sense of invincibility. They have lost/spent roughly $61billion already increasing around $1billion a day, and what do they have to show for it? Destroying an air force and navy that wasn’t worth anything already? An Iranian populace now more radicalised than ever against them? An energy crisis threatening to topple the petrodollar?
You really should come down to reality sometimes if you manage to remove your tongue from the US’s sphincter. Iran could still absolutely be toppled but to act like to this point it hasn’t been a serious contender for fractions of a cent on the dollar spent, or that the US hasn’t been bumbling it’s way through losing well over a billion in advanced weapons platforms is ridiculous and completely detached from reality.
I kinda concur.
It’s news, enjoyable news.
There are around 800 C-135 in existence, not all of them are operational, and not all can be deployed in the region. It’s a major news because the US is losing assets worth billions of dollars on daily basis, and is unable to protect its based and airfields where Iran now operates with impunity.
Ty for the reply. Two points I’m struggling with:
First, one-eighth of a percent isn’t statistically meaningful. This is a top-priority combat theatre and aircraft are still flying. Any C-135 that can fly can get there, the sky is largely open to the usa.
Second, the claim that the U.S. is losing significant assets feels like a stretch, especially given the first point. Can you share sources to support that?
First, one-eighth of a percent isn’t statistically meaningful
Yeah just glaze right over “not all of them are operational and not all of them can be deployed there” and still persist in framing things as if it’s 5 out of 800 because you’re VERY smart
the claim that the U.S. is losing significant assets feels like a stretch, especially given the first point
Hey chat how many THAAD systems are there and is it a good sign if they had to dismantle the one in south Korea to rush in a replacement
The cost of the Iran war TO THE US ALONE, and NOT including the literal trillions that will be lost worldwide due to the 30-40% of Gulf oil infrastructure that’s been blown up, could already pay to permanently end homelessness in America
Weird how Iran has burnt enough american money that it could have ended homelessness and yet here you are, engaging us with your full powers as a Reddit debarebro
I could respond point by point, but the tone you’re bringing isn’t about understanding, it’s about winning.
I don’t do debates where anger replaces reasoning.
lol cool story, yeah the U.S. totally could win this war, too (they won’t)
Neither you nor anyone else “does debate” ever. This isn’t high school. There are no rules of order and there aren’t going to be. Obnoxious pedants like yourself reframe arguments you get in as debates so that when you lose you can gesture at some moderator that isn’t there or rulebook only you respect to indicate that the time for argument has passed
It is very significant if the US is unable to protect these planes. Sending new ones just means they will meet the same fate because radars and early detection were the first thing Iran systematically targeted. None of these assets can’t be easily replaced, and they cost countless billions to build:
- https://abcnews.com/International/us-allied-radar-sites-middle-east-struck-10/story?id=131164670
- https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/05/middleeast/radar-bases-us-missile-defense-iran-war-intl-invs
- https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260327-us-military-assets-worth-billions-damaged-or-lost-in-iran-war-report/
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-israel-us-war-death-toll-b2946282.html
- https://archive.ph/0notX
And it’s clear that the US is abandoning entire bases now, NYT chose to use a hilarious euphemism for that saying that ‘Iran’s Attacks Force U.S. Troops to Work Remotely’. There are now plenty of videos of drones flying in US bases completely uncontested, and based being empty.
I can assure you our leaders are entirely able to count the billions they will spend repairing these systems. They counted to 37 trillion with no problem.
Ty for the response. I challenge the assertion that the usa will keep doing the same thing and loosing to Iranian attacks…because there is no better teacher than failure.
The U.S. military’s greatest strength isn’t size, it’s adaptability. It learns faster, shifts faster, and scales faster than any force on earth.
The us likes to show off and really only combats those it knows it can outclass.
2 non usa Sources on their adaptability: -https://mickryan.substack.com/p/the-fifth-element -https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/online-analysis/2022/09/overseas-bases-and-us-strategic-posture/
Historical examples on adaptability: -Operation Odyssey Dawn (2011) -Operation Inherent Resolve (2014–present) -Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (2015–2021) -Operation Allies Refuge (2021) -grabbing Maduro from Venezuelas most fortified military installation (2026)
The US doesn’t really have a lot of practical option here that I can see. The early detection infrastructure has already been destroyed. The US industry is not capable of producing interceptors at the rate they’re being used. And the US has a huge logistics disadvantage having to ferry troops, weapons, and supplies across the ocean.
The US military has also proven itself to be incapable of achieving strategic goals in pretty much every single conflict it fought from Korea, to Vietnam, to Iraq, and Afghanistan. There is zero reason to believe that the US military can learn faster, shift faster, or scale faster than the Iranians can. It is an incompetent force that’s disgraced itself time and again. The war on Iran will be no different.
Here’s what’s the most likely to happen next, should the US decide to put boots on the ground https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETeA07YjnSM
Do you think practically all their bases in the region destroyed and $1.1 billion radars that take 10 years to rebuild aren’t significant assets lost?
First, one-eighth of a percent isn’t statistically meaningful.
fuck i hate these misaproppiations of technical terms. “Really small number” is not the same as “statistically meaningless”, go to a police station with one-eigth percent blood alcohol content, tell them you’re gonna go drive know and see if they think it isn’t “statistically meaningful”
I get your distinction, but you’re mixing contexts. A small percentage in a system isn’t the same as BAC in a human body. Let’s keep it apples to apples.
And hey, don’t let that hate eat you up, this back and forth is essentially meaningless leisure. it’s not that deep.
BAC in a human body is a small percentage in a system though? So by your definition it is apples to apples.
You’re speaking of 0.125% of all those types of aircraft, including the non-operational ones or the ones in operation elsewhere. Even if there were still 500 aircraft available how many are in the region on standby to be deployed immediately to continue operations unimpeded? You don’t need to destroy all of them to degrade operations to a point where its no longer viable, only a sufficient amount. That’s why 0.125% BAC is already a pretty high amount. It degrades operations to a sufficient degree, rendering one incapable of operation machinery for instance.
this back and forth is essentially meaningless leisure
and fuck do I hate people that treat news and war like some tv-show episode or sportsgame. These are real people dying by the terror attacks from the judeochristian fundamentalists. It’s not meaningless and the fact that you debate it “for leisure” is frankly revolting.
Amen.
The real meaninglessness is this back and forth. I am not changing your mind, just giving your anger something to focus on.
I am stepping away from it, but I will leave you with this: if someone can make you angry, they can control you. Anger may feel powerful, but it takes your power and leaves you carrying it alone. Take care.
This is one of the least mature ways to leave an argument
try being all tranquil when bombs are dropping over your home all the time fuckass
dumb fucking enlightened redditor
if someone can make you angry, they can control you. Anger may feel powerful, but it takes your power and leaves you carrying it alone. Take care.
and buddy do I fucking hate it when people think that emotions are to be shunned and think some platitudes about tranquility are deep. There are no bad emotions only bad ways to deal with them. There is a reason people get angry in the face of injustice, embracing that anger gives one the motivation to act in an altruistic manner. It allows us to put the immediate and visible rewards for us aside and put oneself in harms way for the benefits of others.
The people that think that emotionless debate is the highest form of reason have not understood what debating others is for.
Because people expected Iran to roll over like Venezuela or be sitting ducks like Gaza. And America has a recent history of picking fights with countries without much capability to hit back. And Iran has been a little bit different. That and the administration is probably lying or hiding a lot of it.
Good.
Significant strike. Each one of these that bite the dust means 5-10 less planes raining bombs on Tehran. Iran has excellent targeting prioritization, much better than going after schoolchildren.
fewer*
The habit of a lifetime for yankee pedo in chief.
You can really tell they’ve planned this out. They took out all the early warning systems in the first days, and now they’re hunting these high value targets.
I’m guessing three quarters of a decade dealing with the Great Satan was a hard study session that paid phenomenal dividends, to use the only parlance Westerners relate to.
Well when you’re up against ZERO FUCKING PLAN being enacted by the world’s dumbest and most arrogant leader on your own home turf… It’s kind of hard to lose, I imagine.
Certainly not impossible. But those easily embarrassed are easy to embarrass for sure. That absolutely checks out.
Russia is also coaching them and providing live target info.
they do have a lot of experience with US tactics over the past for years they can pass on
And LOL at the western hypocrites crying about it.
They can train, arm, fund and send ‘advisors’ to the ukro’s but Russia giving some satellite info is bad.Eh. I can oppose both Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the US/Israel war on Iran. It’s not about which team you’re on. It’s about backing the country being invaded and attacked.
Many people can, but apparently politicians and their media mouthpieces dogmatically defend their US masters.
They never cared about international law or right and wrong. It was always just a tool to bludgeon the other team with, and now that the tool is turning against them they’re dropping it like a broken toy.
Many people still believed their BS about ‘the rules based order’.
I know it’s a lie but still was shocked to hear some EU ‘leaders’ blatantly say international law doesn’t apply to Iran.
After condoning the genocide in Gaza they now defend the illegal war and mass murder of children in Iran.
How can these loathsome turds look in the mirror.
The west has no monopoly on hypocrites. But this is certainly the rightful. finding out phase of an octogenarian toddler’s fucking around.
I love that for them.
Nice, keep it coming Iran
The people who die in war are never the people who deserve to die in war.
When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die.
I wish death upon the “poor” soldiers of america who keep murdering children.
It’s ok, they couldn’t afford the fuel anyway
according to the news article, they were not destroyed but just damaged and are being repaired
They were grounded and hit with explosives.
Those birds are toast.
Well, I mean that wheel, there, is still good.
Yeah I dont know how the army does it, but civilian aircraft would have to be “repaired” by being stripped and rebuilt or they’d never be considered flight ready. The distinction between destroyed and damaged is just the Air Force saving face.
The report also stated that the aircraft were damaged by the missile attack, but not completely destroyed. The affected aircraft are currently being repaired, and no casualties were reported in the incident.
Destroyed in title. Damaged in article. Top tier journalism.
